Oct. 18th - 2012
Both adults were back on the nest ledge again today enjoying the afternoon together.
Thank you again to Nona for the screen shot photos!
Oct. 18th - 2012
A quickly update as a flood of reports and photos have come in over the past 24 hours regarding the birds activities. Both Quest and Kendal were back again today observed on the nest ledge, in addition to visiting many other ledges on the south face of the nest building looking for their missing nest box.
It is reported that the pair spent several hours investigating numerous ledges at various elevations on the south face obviously looking for the missing nest box. A flood of photos were sent in that clearly show the birds confusion.
While the work continues on the south side of the nest building, the final step will be the aluminum work. We are hopeful that when this work commences, that the nest ledge and level will be one of the first that will get done so the nest box will be able to be put back in place as soon as possible.
A big thank you to all who have been watching and reporting, in addition to the many photos that have been sent in.
Oct. 17th - 2012
A quickly update on the Hearn peregrines today. I was able to spend some time at the Hearn power plant today and was again lucky enough to catch both resident adults very active hunting off the large smoke stack today.
With sad news about the original unbanded female who was injured this past summer just before her young fledged. As you may recall, she was rescued of site and taken into rehab in an effort to treat her injuries. Sadly, she eventually had to be euthanized and put down due to the extent of her injuries.
The resident territorial adult male named “Peter” hung in all summer and was successful in caring for his three offspring and although he worked overtime trying to feed both himself and the three fledglings, (in addition to fending off the many intruders that challenged him for the territory), he was successful in raising all of the fledglings by himself.
Peter, (the same resident adult male of two years) is still very much on territory, and as we have documented, and has attracted a new female mid summer time that has stayed on territory with him to this day.
While it appears that the young fledglings have long since dispersed and can no longer be found, (typical at this time of year), both adults are sticking tight to the plant and it would appear that neither are going to migrate or leave the territory this winter.
Desmond
Oct. 17th - 1012
A big thank you to Nona again for sending in some of the screen shots she captured from the CPF nest camera today at the Toronto Sheraton Centre hotel showing both Rhea Mae and Tiago on the ledge involved in some bonding with each other.
The pair spent the afternoon on the ledge enjoying some of the warm late day sunshine. It might appear that the many past days of overcast and rain have finally let-up for a short period of time and we’re back to some warmer seasonal weather.
As we have been expecting, the nest box has been removed from the nest ledge at the 220 Duncan Mill Road nest site to facilitate the ledge repairs.
By 9am this morning, the nest box had already been removed from the nest ledge in an effort to facilitate the mortar work needed to be done on the nest ledge itself. Over the past two months, the building has been under construction with repairs needed on all elevations of the building.
Quest was observed late morning in several “fly-byes’ obviously reviewing the situation. At no point were the workmen stooped during the mortar application and it appears that all went well.
The next serious of camera screen shots, (thank you again Nona), shows one of the workmen doing the mortar application, and in a final shot, the entire nest ledge having been completely mortar finished. Now of course the drying process.
By days end, it would appear that almost all of the ledges on the south elevation have been mortared and this part of the work is almost completed.
Stay tuned……..
At the close of today, it appears that the final mortar work to be completed on the south building elevation (the same side of the building where the peregrines have been nesting for the past two years) is the nest ledge itself.
Observations gathered have shown that the contractors doing the work are very quick indeed, as they were able to complete a single section - (top to bottom, end to end, side to side, inside pillar to pillar including the back wall above and below the windows, overhang and ledge base) in less than two hours! This included the time needed to return back to the ground level to get more mortar and return back to the ledge to finish!
Its nice to see that the building management has agreed to hold off doing the actual nest ledge repairs until the very last.
We can expect to see the nest box temporarily removed from the nest ledge so that the contractors can complete the necessary repairs.
Stay tuned……….
Heard and saw both Jack and O’connor today up on the ledge. There was some nest box chupping and bonding going on and he stuck around until at least lunch time hanging out on the ledge beneath her. She was on her new favorite perch as always, preening away in the sunshine.
Last week when Jack was around I did see them both take off after a bird in the distance - it was too far to tell what it was but they obviously saw it as a threat as O’connor kacked up a storm as they both flew out to give an escort out of the territory.
Otherwise it’s been relatively quiet and peaceful for our resident pair.
Friday Oct. 12th - 2012 Continued
Again thanks to Nona for the great screen shots of Quest involved in a leisurely afternoon in the nest box tidying up and re-arranging things. After spending an afternoon of nest box maintenance, Quest takes and opportunity to capitalize on the warm sun light that has absent for the last week given all of the rain and overcast conditions that we’ve all had to deal with.
Kendal visited several times throughout the day, roosted outside of the nest box but only stayed a short time during each of the visits.
At this time, it appears that all of the mortar work on the south side of the nest building (the same side of the building that Quest and Kendal have been nesting on) is all but completed, with the exception of the nest box ledge itself. We can expect to see the nest box removed soon as they will have to complete the repairs to this final ledge very soon.
Approved by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the nest box will be temporarily removed from its place on the ledge during the final stages of the work on this ledge to allow the ledge repairs to be completed.
We have already observed the ledge repair process up until this point. There is ledge prepped - (scraped, cleaned and finally swept clean), than the application of the new mortar. It would appear that some of the ledges are then covered with a mortar paint type sealer that can only be applied once the mortar has finally dried. * (See attached photos of the processes).
The good news is that the ledge prep and mortar application is easily completed in less than two hours per section. Application of a sealer to the dried mortar takes less time again.
We are to understand that the final application of aluminum work will also be done on all elevations of the building, and is the final step.
So far, Quest and Kendal have handled all of the on-going construction activities, (cranes, lifts, jack-hammering and other human activities) going on around the nest ledge over the past month just fine.
It will be most interesting to see just how Quest and Kendal will react to the nest box having been removed. As you might expect, the process is being monitored very closely by all to ensure that the peregrines are not hurt or harassed during the ongoing processes.
The nest box will be returned back to the ledge no later than December 31st - 2012
Given what has already been documented of the ledge work, it is very likely that the aluminum work needed on the nest ledge itself will be the first that they do, so that the nest box can be returned back the ledge much sooner than December.
Stay tuned…………..
Oct. 12th - 2012 - 12:30pm
Despite the ongoing work on the south face of 220 Duncan Mill road nest building where the nest box is located, Quest and Kendal seem to be handling and dealing with all of the human activity so far so good. A thank you to Margaret and Donna for sending in some of the camera screen shots taken this afternoon, as it appears that Quest has spent the afternoon in the nest box sunning herself, in addition to doing some nest box maintenance re-arranging gravel and doing some general nest box housekeeping. (What ever peregrine nestbox general housekeeping is)??
It does although appear that whatever nest box maintenance she’s been doing all afternoon, that it is tiring work indeed, as Quest seemed to spend much of the later afternoon laying down sunning herself after all of the work!
Shortly after these screen shots were sent to us, Nona sent in a long serious of screen shots showing Quest doing some major re-arranging inside of the nest box, with a very confused Kendal watching her from the landing platform just outside of the nest box.
Typical males, playing dumb when it comes to housework. 
Nona reports:
The screen shot time will tell you when it was taken…..
I logged in & found Quest at home @ 12.52PM and she stayed until almost 4:30pm
Quest picked pebbles, re-arranged the gravel, preened, and in general, just fooled around, fussing with the scrape until 3.30PM
At that time she spread out and sun bathed until 4.20PM then she stood up, stretched and finally flew out of the nest box and out the camera view.
Hope you find the pics interesting.
Oct. 10th - 2012 - 11:30am
A big thank you to Nona Smith for sending in these camera shots of Quest and Kendal spending some quality time together back on the nest ledge and nest box at 220 Duncan Mill road nest site.
With the fledglings now gone, it appears that Quest and Kendal have some quiet time to themselves.
